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.J. B. FIALA.

PLAYER PIANO FORPRODUCING SOLO EFFECTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. 1916.

' Patented Aug. 19,1919.-

4 SHEETSSHEET 1- Spoo/ Dx J. B. FIALA. PLAYER PIANO FOR PRODUCING SOLO EFFECTS. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4|19I6.

1,313,625 Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

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PLAYER PIANO FOR PRODUCING SOLO EFFECTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.4, 191.6.

1 3 1 3 6 2 5 Patented Aug. 1 9, 1919,

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J. B. F'IALA.

PLAYER PIA-N0 FOR PRO APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. I916.

DECIDED nucme solo EFFECTS.

Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH B. FIALA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD PNEUMATIC ACTION COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PLAYER-PIANO FOR PRODUCING SOLO EFFECTS.

Application filed December 4, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosErH B. FIALA, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Player-Piano for Producing Solo Effects, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a mechanism which can be combined with the ordinar or standard player piano so that solo efi ects can be produced automatically from the cutting of the note sheet. By the term solo effects I mean that the playing of-certain notes will be louder than the playing of the other notes so that the theme can be reproduced by the playing of the loud notes, and the accompaniment produced by playing the other notes.

To this end the invention consists in providing the ordinary player piano with a plurality of sections of dampers, and means controlled from the note sheet for automatically moving said sections so that the dampers thereof will be interposed or not interposed between the hammers and strings dependin upon the cutting of the note sheet. By ma 'ng the main part of said sections so small as to control only a few actions solo effects can be produced.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying four sheets of drawings, referring to which Figure 1 is a partial front elevation;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan View;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation;

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale illustrating the valve mecha nism;

Fig. 5 is a plan View of the means for throwing the solo-producing mechanism out of operation, nd

Fig. 6 is a tracker and note shee diagram.

Referring to the drawings and in detail, A designates the spool box in which is arranged the tracker B over which the perforated note sheet C is drawn from the music spool D by a take-up roll E driven by the usual motor. F designates the series of actions and G the series of strings. H (Fig. 3) designates the series of power pneumatics, which are controlled through valve mechanisms, which latter are controlled from the orifices in the tracker. The power pneumatics are connected to actuate the wippens Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

Serial No. 134,867.

of the actions. These parts may be of any standard or ordinary construction, and as shown, are the parts employed in the wellknown instrument illustrated for example in patent to Danquard, No. 766,601, patented August 2, 1904. By this arrangement as the note sheet is drawn over the tracker bar the actions will be operated by the power pneumatics to render the musical composition for which the note sheet is cut.

To the ordinary or standard mechanism before described I add the following attachment. A valve box 10 (Figs. 1 and 4) made in the form of a bar is secured in place back of the spool box either by brackets extending from the spool box or by brackets extending from the casing. A series of pneumatics 11 is secured to the lower part of this valve box. The valve box is connected to the wind chest so that the exhaust will be connected to a passage 12 running longitudinally through the box. Each pneumatic 11 is connected to this exhaust passage 12 by a passage 13. Said passages 13 also connect into a passage 14: extending along the top of the valve box 10 and open to the atmosphere. A double valve 15 is interposed between each passage 12 and 13, the lower valve working against a metal seat 16 and the upper valve working against a seat formed in the valve box 10. The valve 15 is operated by the usual dia phragm 17 having a bleed 18. A chamber 19 is provided below the diaphragm and is connected by a tube 20 with one of the accenting orifices in the tracker bar hereinafter to be described. Each pneumatic carries an arm 21, and secured to the end of the same is a flexible damper 22. This damper is preferably made out of fairly light, strong, flexible cloth. The pneumatics and dampers are arranged so that when the pneumatics are in open or distended condition, as illustrated in Fig. 4, the dampers will be interposed between the hammers and the strings so that when a hammer is thrown toward the string it will strike on said damper, but so that when the pneumatic is collapsed the damper will be lifted above the range of action of the hammer so that the hammer can strike directly on the string. When the damper is in operative position between the hammer and string a modified or subdued tone is obtained from the hammer blow as compared with the effect of the hammer blow directly upon the string itself.

It is preferred to arrange the sections of dampers in such small units that solo effects can be obtained.

One convenient way to do this is illustrated in diagram in Fig. 6. The trackerB is represented as of the ordinary pattern having tracking openings at its outer edge and a loud pedal opening. Five accent openings 23 are represented at the left of the tracker, two at the left of the loud pedal opening and three 'at the right thereof; and seven accent openings 23 are represented at the right of the tracker. These accent openin'gs' can'be'easily added to the standard tracker by using the two'playing openings at the extreme left and the two playing openings at the extreme right as accent openings, and arranging the instrument to play automatically only eighty-four of the eighty-eight actions of thepiano. This of course is not a"necessary but is one convenient arrangement.

The left-hand 'accenting opening 23 is made to control the left-hand pneumatic 11. This pneumatic is made comparatively large, and its damper22ispreferably made of'a length to 'c'ome between the lower twenty-six actions and strings. The'right-hand accent opening 23 and right-hand pneumatic 11 is also made large so that its'damper will come between the upper twenty-eight hammers and strings. The middle ten accent openings are connected preferably to ten small pneumatics 11. Each of these pneumatics has a relatively narrow flexible damper 22 arranged so as to come between three hammers and strings, and these ten small pneumatics are preferably arranged to control the middle thirty hammers of the instrument. Most solo effects can be accomplished inthis'range of thirty notes, and by making eachof the dampers in thissection control only the action of three hammers practically any solo effect can beobtained, as it is very rare that a note is played with the note above or below the same. 1 The proportions given are only of course illustrative, but they represent what' I believe to be the best method now known 'to me for practising the invention.

The note sheet is cut as illustrated in Fig. 6. Ordinarily the note sheet covers all the accenting openings and therefor all the damperswill beinterpo's'ed in operative position. When'anote is to be. accented a perforation is cut on the note sheet to register with the ac'centing opening which controls the pneumatic having the damper in front of the actionwhich is to play the particular'note. This opening in the tracker is out slightly'in advance of the perforation in the note sheet which is to call the particular note. By this arrangement the particular pneumatic will be collapsed and the damper raised so' that when the power pneumatic operates to throw the hammer the hammer will strike directly on the string and the note will thus be played louder relative to the remaining notes which are being played at the same time.

The attachment is very simple and adds but very little to the expense of the instrument. It can be applied without affecting any of the power pneumatic mechanisms which operate the actions, without disturbing the actions or cutting the hammer rail or any of the other parts of the instrument.

I have found with this arrangement that a clear-cut tone is obtained'which is subdued as compared with the tone produced when the damper is not interposed between the hammer and string. By selecting the theme by the mechanisms before described by having the notes which constitute the same played without the interposition of the dampers, and by having the accompaniment or other notes played with the dampin'g'effect on the strings, beautiful results are obtained.

While'not certain how the exact relative tone is produced, I attribute it to the following. It will be noted that the force of the hammer blow is the same no matter whether the flexible damper is 1 interposed or not. Thisforce is obtained by the upward movement of'the movable leaf of the power pneumatic acting through its connections on the wippen which in turn acts through the jack and butt of the hammer. Therefore, the power movement of'the hammer and the force applied to sound a note is the same no matter whether the damper is interposed or not as the jack snaps off the butt before the hammer reaches the string or the damper when interposed. When the hammer comes in contact with the flexible damper, although the force applied is the same as when the damper is not interposed, the initial forward and particularly the backward movement, constituting the initial vibration of the string, is deadened or restricted, and hence a subdued tone is obtained.

In other words, the reduced vibration of the string is obtained in large part by the damping action obtained-by the extended flexible damper, although the force applied to sound the note is the same as if the damper were not interposed. The flexible damper of course will swing back out of the way of the vibrating string very quickly and will only deaden the first or possibly the first "few vibrations of the string. This tends to give the"beautiful reduced tones which I have observed, particularly in those sections of the actionwhere the light flexible dampers'are applied to the small units of three" actions.

Another' beantiful effect is obtained by the use of the larger damper in connection with the base 'actions. That'is as before described, this damper is made to control about twenty-six actions. This damper, being longer and heavier, will have a larger effect and hence this section of the notes will be subdued more than the middle sections. The same is also true of the larger damper controlling the upper section or treble section of twenty-eight actions. Thus, when the theme runs into the bass section or the treble section it is particularly marked. By using different weights and sections of dampers, many other artistic effects can be obtained.

When it is desired to play an ordinary note sheet which is not cut for accenting the following arrangement is provided. A shaft 24 is journaled in the instrument to extend along below the series of pneumatics 11. This shaft has extending wings or levers 25 on the same arranged under the movable leaves of the pneumatics 11. This shaft has a lever 26 secured on its end which is connected by a link 27 to one end of a bell crank lever 2829 which connects by a link 30 to a handle 31 pivoted at any convenient point of the casing. The handle 81 is shown in its position at the left, in which position the wings 25 are moved to substantially horizontal position, as shown in )Fig. i so as to be clear of the series of pneumatics 11. By throwing the handle 31 to the right these wings are swung up to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l, and thus will collapse the series of pneumatics 11 and raise all of the dampers out of operative position between the hammers and strings. In this position the wings 25 are approximately perpendicular to the movable leaves of the pneumatics 11, which latter are thereby firmly locked in raised position. Pieces of felt are applied to the movable leaves of the pneumatics when the same are engaged by said levers or wings to prevent any rattling. The dampers can be moved to operative or inoperative positi on when playing the instrument manually.

The details and arrangements herein shown and described can be greatly varied by a skilled mechanic without departing from the scope of my invention as'expressed in the claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a player piano having a plurality of actions and automatic operating mechanism therefor, in combination, flexible damping devices operative in long sections to control the extreme bass and treble actions and in a plurality of short sections to control the intermediate actions, and sheetcontrolled means for automatically moving any section of said damping devices to operative or inoperative position.

2. In a player piano having a plurality of actions and automatic operating mechanism therefor, in combination, a lurality of flexible damping devices for saici actions, and sheet-controlled means for selectively moving said devices to operative or inoperative positions, the damping devices for certain of the actions being relatively heavy and for other actions being relatively light, whereby different tone efi'ects may be secured.

3. In a player piano having a plurality of actions and automatic operating mechanism therefor, in combination, a plurality of pneumatics each having a flexible damper directly secured thereto, and sheet-controlled means to control said pneumatics and move said dampers to operative or inoperative positions.

4. In a player piano having a plurality of actions and automatic operating mechanism therefor, in combination, sectional damping devices including a plurality of sheet-controlled operating pneumatics each effective to move certain of said devices to operative or inoperative positions, and pivoted means engaging the movable leaves of all of said pneumatics and movable to a position approximately perpendicular to said movable leaves for locking said pneumatics with said clamping devices in inoperative position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

JOSEPH B. FIALA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for flve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

